Of Secrets and Lies
by Scooterbug8515
Summary: Remus and Sirius are left to watch over Harry while James and Lily go out. Things go wrong for the two men and they swear never to tell how they messed up. Sadly their little secret comes back to haunt them.


"Be careful!" warned Lily as she looked worryingly to her son. She held out a hand of warning that ended up looking more like a desperate reach for her boy.

"It'll be fine Lily now lets go before Harry catches on," answered James a he held a reassuring arm around his wife's waist leading her toward the door. "Remus and Sirius are watching him."

Lilly forced herself to look away and went out the door to spend a romantic evening with James.

"This taking care of kids thing is a piece of cake!" remarked Sirius as he lifted Harry up high in the air causing a loud peal of laughter to exude from the young babe.

"Just be careful Sirius," warned Remus plaintively as he turned a page in his book. Really, he wasn't there to watch Harry so much as to watch over Sirius.

"Don't worry Moony the kid's having fun!" countered Sirius as he began tossing Harry up in the air.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Sirius," remarked Remus setting his book down to watch. The whole situation was now making him uncomfortable.

"Stop worrying the kid will be fine," answered Sirius looking to his friend as he tossed Harry up once more.

This was the fateful mistake, for as Sirius looked to Remus he lost focus on Harry, so that when it was time to catch him he fumbled. Sirius let out a small curse as he tried to grope for the now descending child which did slow his decent but honestly there was no hope of holding onto the giggling and slightly squirming mass. Before either Sirius or Remus knew it, the giggles were pierced by child like wails. Harry was on the floor having been dropped.

"What did you do?" cried Remus abandoning his book and approaching the young boy.

"I..." stammered Sirius looking in awe at the mess he created not certain on what to do.

Remus bent down to check on Harry, while Sirius just stared not exactly certain on what to do. It was all quite the shock to him.

"I - I think he fell on his head," spoke Remus hesitantly as he looked over the weeping child.

"No! He couldn't have!" argued Sirius though he knew that he did remember seeing Harry upside down in the jumble that happened so fast that it was mostly a blur of: baby, attempted rescue, and panic all mixed into one.

"He did!" exclaimed Remus worry etched all over him as he held the crying child not sure what to do to comfort him. "What are we going to tell Lily and James? They are going to kill us! This is your fault you know! Though knowing you, somehow this will get pegged on me!"

Remus was starting to ramble which was never a good sign.

"Remus!" barked Sirius glaring at his panic stricken friend. "Get a hold of yourself! There's no need to panic!" Sirius probably would have socked Remus one for good measure if he weren't holding the baby.

"This is a perfect time to panic!" snapped Remus clutching Harry to him a bit more firmly.

"It'll be fine, just give me Harry."

"What and let you drop him again?" quipped back Remus speaking before thinking, a tendency he did have on occasion.

"Hey if you hadn't distracted me, I wouldn't have dropped him," defended Sirius feeling rather cross.

"See! See! I knew that this would get pinned on me!" came back Remus hotly causing the already calming Harry to start back up again.

"Now look what you did you made Harry start to cry again, now give him over to me. I'm his godfather after all!"

"Godfather or not you dropped him," answered back Remus trying to keep hold of the crying child as Sirius reached for him.

A small sort of scuffle ensued and before anyone knew it the baby was falling once more to the ground and this time most assuredly hit his head. If one thought the baby's cries couldn't get any louder or worse, they were sorely mistaken for Harry's did. His face was a dark shade of red as he screamed out in anger, pain, and frustration.

Sirius and Remus stared at each other for a moment before Sirius quickly bent down and scooped the wailing child in his arms. "Fine we are both to blame," agreed Sirius as he tried to get Harry to stop crying.

"Agreed," answered a very shaken and ashen Remus, "Maybe we should just put Harry to bed."

"Alright we'll put him to bed," agreed Sirius his face pale as well, due to the second incident.

It took a bit of time and some doing to get the baby into his crib and calmed down to sleep, but once that was done both men left the nursery and began to contrive a plan of sorts.

"We tell Lily and James nothing," whispered Sirius to Remus who nodded his head. Remus hated deception but this was one point in time when he figured it was best, though he did wonder.

"You don't think..." started Remus wanting to ask about Harry's health.

"Naw, he'll be fine," broke in Sirius with a bolstered confidence he used to cover up uncertainty whenever it came around.

Remus nodded knowing that Sirius wasn't certain either, but wanted to believe in the best.

Having made the pact, Sirius and Remus spent the night in relative quite each hoping nothing would come of it, and both eager for James and Lily to come home.

"So how was everything?" asked James stepping into the room while Lily put up her purse and went instantly to check on Harry.

"Fine," came the chorused reply of Sirius and Remus.

"That's good to hear," answered James looking to both of his best mates wondering if something was wrong, though he wasn't sure.

"I just checked Harry and he's sleeping peacefully," spoke s pleased Lily as she came in resting a hand on James' arm.

Sirius and Remus exchanged quick looks with one another indicating the relief they felt.

"I'm amazed you were able to get him to sleep!" added Lily with a surprised smile looking at both men.

Remus was guilted into silence while Sirius covered by saying, "It's just that magic touch I have. I don't know, I suppose you could call it a gift!"

Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius' antics. "All right then," she answered with a laugh, "I think James and I have it from here."

"I think that's our que to leave Moony," quipped Sirius hitting him in the arm.

Remus nodded his head with a weak smile and gathered up his book to leave. He was out the door before Sirius who paused to say "Have fun you two... don't do anything I wouldn't!" he winked and closed the door before Lily could react to his words.

"Padfoot! We have to tell them!" whispered Remus the moment the door was closed.

"We don't have to anything! Harry's fine he's sleeping and there's nothing to worry about. Kids get hurt all the time. What Lily and James don't know won't hurt them," answered Sirius with a shrug before turning up the collar of his leather jacket and heading for Marrianne, his bike.

That was the end of that conversation and it wasn't until several years later that things started to creep up. Harry just didn't quite seem like, well like the child of James and Lily. It was hard to explain and pinpoint but everyone was thrown off by it.

"James," came Lily's quiet remark one night as she lay in bed next to her husband.

"Yeah?" came James gruff reply he had just about fallen to sleep at that point.

"Does Harry seem a little..." Lily paused and bit her lip. She wasn't sure how to say it, and didn't want to say it, almost as if saying it would make it true. Really how could she wonder about her own son? She finally finished her sentence by saying "off to you?"

The first words that came to James' mind were 'how so?' but he didn't ask it because he knew exactly what Lily meant. Letting out a deep sigh James agreed, "He does." It was horrid of him to say, but it was true. Harry just didn't seem to hold that same caliber of charisma and mischief that he did nor did he quite have Lily's smarts. Sure the kid got lucky breaks, but really how long would they last?

Lily bit her lip again before speaking once more, her voice a little emotional this time, "Was it something we did?" she asked.

This caused James to stir and turn toward his wife, he hated to hear Lily upset like she was. "No, no, no," he spoke reassuringly as he placed his arms around Lily.

"We did nothing wrong. I mean look at Lorelai, she turned out just fine."

"Yeah," agreed Lily contemplatively, "Do you think maybe something happened to Harry?"

"I don't know? You mean like he was dropped or something?"

"DID YOU DROP HARRY!" practically screeched Lily turning quickly to face her husband her glare very apparent, even through the darkness of the room.

"No!" defended James "I swear! I never!"

"You aren't just saying that?" demanded Lily.

"Honest Lil's I swear! If I had you would have known. I mean back then I would have been in a dead panic if I had dropped him."

"I guess you're right," agreed Lily with a sigh. "I just wish we could figure it out."

"Me too Lils, me too," answered James rolling over to go to sleep.

"I don't get it," remarked James the next day to Sirius and Remus.

"Get what?" asked Remus curiously.

"Harry," answered a frustrated James his thoughts now dwelling on the problem with Harry since his talk with Lily.

"What's there not to get?" joked Sirius.

"Everything answered James," with a frown, "He doesn't act like my son! I mean he's kind of a wuss! Even Lily notices it!"

"Now..." started Remus to try and negate James, and be a bit encouraging but James continued on ignoring Remus and interrupting.

"I mean the worst of it all was Lils even had the thought to blame me for it!"

It was here that Sirius snickered, really the idea was funny.

"She claimed that I had dropped him or something!" finished James with a frown staring at nothing really.

Remus seemed to just freeze and his face went a bit ashen as he looked to Sirius out of the corner of his eye.

Sirius catching onto this acted quickly letting out a hearty laugh before saying, "That's just crazy! You? Dropping Harry! You'd be in a dead panic!"

"I know! That's what I told her!" answered James looking up from his focus point to his best mates. "You alright there Moony?"

"He's fine, just something to do with the moon probably," answered Sirius trying to keep Remus from speaking.

James nodded and plodded on with his thoughts, "I mean something had to have happened to Harry. There's nothing else left to explain it." James eyes drifted between his two mates as he spoke. Something seemed peculiarly off. He kept glancing between the two of them as Sirius spoke once, more.

"It's probably all just in your head. There's not a thing wrong with Harry," which was a lie on Sirius' part, he had to admit that Harry just wasn't a proper Potter.

"Wait..." spoke James looking more at Remus then back to Sirius. Things started clicking in his head, old memories came drifting to him, how Remus turned down baby sitting for a good while and his actions now, how his eyes would occasionally dart to Sirius. It didn't sit right. Turning to his best mate James set a glare upon him. "Padfoot..." he spoke slowly as his glare locked on Sirius that just happened over the top edge of his glasses. "DID YOU DROP HARRY!" he exploded with the last sentence.

Remus winced at this part, the look of guilt very clear on his face now, while Sirius stared blankly at James for a moment. "No, of course I didn't!" answered Sirius with a casual shrug. "Progsie, really don't you think I would have told you I dropped you son on his head?"

"Moony..." started James looking toward Remus but quickly turning from that saying "I didn't say anything about his head."

"You didn't?" asked Sirius with a surprised look, "Must have assumed you know..."

Sirius couldn't continue on with his lie as James exploded one more. "YOU DID! You dropped Harry, and on his head no less!"

"It was Moony's fault!" back bit Sirius pointing a finger at their very guilty looking companion.

"MOONY!" cried James in utter shock.

"That is entirely unfair!" countered Remus finally driven from his guilt ridden silence, "You were the one who dropped him in the first place!"

"Whoa wait first place? You mean there was more than once?"

"James I'm sorry..." started Remus feeling worse now that he had spoken.

"I hate you both!" answered James thoroughly angered at both men, "You broke my son!"


End file.
